I waved goodbye to 2022 with an element of hope about the near future. Lucas Höler signed off the year with a hattrick against Union Berlin and I rewarded him by allowing him to sign off on a two-year contract extension with a reasonable pay bump. It was only his sixth league appearance of the season, and they were his only goals thus far - I knew it was a wild decision. Naturally, it backfired. A broken lower leg in training on 26th December ruled the striker out for a period estimated up to 5 months - the vast majority of the remainder of the season.
THE GLORIOUS BASTERD
The January transfer window was another relatively quiet one. Two first team departures - young right wing back Hugo Siquet went out to Fortuna Düsseldorf on loan (he only made 8 appearances… great) and veteran French wideman Jonathan Schmid left for Schalke 04 in a deal worth £100k (and about £10k a week saved in wages).
With Höler’s injury in mind, I made my first permanent signing of the save - an Ivorian Wonderkid. It was Molde of Norway who were bidding “Au revoir, Fofana” as we exchanged a sum of £3m for the pacy winger-come-striker Datro Fofana.
If I was looking for any immediate comfort in the first month after the Winter Break, I wouldn’t have thought I’d find it in fixtures against Bayern, Wolfsburg and Eintracht Frankfurt - three sides who were battling it out for the top spot in the league at this point. Surprisingly, we came away with six points from the possible nine here with a further three added from our game against Augsburg. January did come to a sorrowful end as Hertha ended our DFB Pokal run in just the third round of the competition.
February and March were difficult months that yielded just one win and one draw from our seven Bundesliga fixtures. Add to this, our exit from the Europa League in the Round of 16 - although we can still have some pride in our efforts. A 3-0 first leg defeat away to Sporting left me with little hope in this tie but Kevin Schade’s second half brace in the second leg provided some excitement, even if it was fleeting. A third couldn’t be found and we left the European competition with a 3-2 aggregate defeat.
It was around the end of March/beginning of April that I reverted back to a 4-3-3 DM-Wide formation with a few minor role alterations from previously. A move that brought an unbeaten month of April before the season fizzled out in May with our final position having already been determined as we entered the final few games.
A 7th place finish secures European football for next season, albeit we’re now down into the Europa Conference League Playoff rather than Europa League Group Stage.
It’s an outcome that exceeds the board expectation of avoiding relegation. An expectation that may seem slightly absurd given Freiburg’s real-life finish of 6th last season, however, the squad really isn’t that great. This is something that is probably best reflected in the fact Freiburg have the second lowest wage bill in the league - half that of the 9th highest wage bill in the league and an incredible 7% of that afforded by Bayern.
BACK TO 4-3-3 (DM-WIDE)
I just couldn’t really get the 4-4-2 to stick for me. Part of it was my own mental block, because it’s not how I wanted to set up. I went back to the 4-3-3 DM-Wide but tweaked the roles.
I started with my three better players: Jeong, Eggestein and Ginter. I looked at their most suited roles and placed them in, the rest of the tactic more-or-less remaining the same except for the striker who changed from DLF(S) to AF.
PLAYER FOCUS
Mark Flekken was my number 1 for the vast majority of the season. He kept 10 clean sheets in 40 appearances, conceding 34 goals in the remaining games. Benjamin Uphoff made 5 appearances with just 1 clean sheet and conceded 9 goals. Gregor Kobel of Dortmund kept the most clean sheets in the Bundesliga, he played 41 games in all competitions conceding 36 goals and keeping 16 clean sheets.
Kevin Schade was my top goalscorer with 14 goals in 20 appearances (16 starts/4 sub apps)- he ended the season as my Advanced Forward. Lukas Nmecha and Timo Werner tied the Bundesliga scoring charts with 21 goals each. Nmecha scored 22 in 35 appearances across all competitions (33 starts / 2 sub apps) while Werner bagged 30 goals in 47 appearances (46 starts / 1 sub app).
Christian Günter was by far my most creative player with 13 assists in 41 appearances (36 starts / 5 sub). Joshua Kimmich was the highest assister in the league, in all competitions he assisted 14 goals in his 46 appearances.
The focus for the season ahead will definitely be on refining this squad a lot more. The squad needs to be condensed in size which should free up enough room in the wage bill to make significant improvements to the first team. With league prize money earned totalling £52m, I’m hoping there will be some boosting of the transfer kitty.
Moderate aims for next season? Qualifying for Europe (in some form) again, a better showing in the DFB Pokal and reaching the knockout rounds of the Europa Conference League. I’ll be happy with that.